The invention relates to a motor vehicle door lock, having a locking mechanism comprising substantially a catch and a pawl, as well as a drive for acting on the locking mechanism and a blocking element interacting with the pawl and having at least one pawl arm and a drive arm, with the pawl arm holding the pawl in a latching position and the drive arm acting as a stop for the drive. The drive arm or the stop arm is provided on the blocking element and/or the pawl and/or on a release element.
A motor vehicle door lock of the aforementioned design is disclosed in DE 103 12 093 B4, in form of a catch lock, in which the pawl is moved into its release position by means of a control element containing an electric motor as its drive. This is the normal functionality during so-called “electric opening”.
In case of a so-called opening obstruction, the catch cannot automatically disengage the previously engaged locking bolt, despite being released. Such an opening obstruction occurs, for instance, where the respective lock or rear lock of the trunk lid or the actual trunk lid is frozen. In order to prevent the electric motor from continuing to turn in such a situation, as part of the described opening process, the electric motor is blocked by a stop journal of a blocking cam moving against a blocking surface of a stopping arm of the engaging lever. This means that in DE 103 12 093 B4, the provided engaging lever or the blocking element prevent the continued turning of the electric motor during an opening process, in particular in the event that the trunk lid is blocked as in the example. This design has generally proven to be successful.
As part of the generic teaching disclosed in DE 103 12 093 B4, said blocking element or the engaging lever is arranged in a space between the pawl and the catch. Such an arrangement can be easily implemented in the known and relatively elaborate and large pawl does however create problems where special pawl arrangements are required. The latest trend is to move increasingly towards the use of so-called multi-pawl and, in particular, dual-pawl locking mechanisms as disclosed in DE 10 2008 048 712 A1, DE 20 2011 100 643 U1 and, in particular, in WO 2008/061491 A1 of the Applicant, representing the original design.
Such a multi-part pawl or multi-pawl locking mechanisms have the advantage that the locking mechanism is particularly quiet. In order to achieve this, a first and a second pawl are generally provided. The first pawl or so-called comfort pawl typically interacts with a main ratchet of the catch, whilst the second pawl or pre-ratchet pawl engages in a pre-ratchet of the catch. This pre-ratchet is, in most cases, defined by a contour or a pin on the catch.
Such multi-pawl locking mechanisms are in most cases designed in such a way that at least the comfort pawl or the first pawl are more or less automatically lifted off the catch during its opening, when the second pawl, responsible for the pre-ratchet, has been disengaged. This means that the catch generates an opening movement as regards the first pawl or comfort pawl, so that it is easily and basically automatically and quietly or more or less quietly moved into the open position as a result of the spring bias of the catch. The spring bias is provided by a spring assigned to the catch, pretensioning the catch in the opening sense.
Within the industry such multi-pawl locking mechanisms are becoming more and more popular as they are significantly quieter. The near automatic opening movement of the first pawl or of the comfort pawl, generated by the opening catch is very quiet or even completely silent. The industry is also looking for electric opening drives that can, for instance, be combined with a “Keyless Entry” system. So far, no convincing concepts are available that combine the described electric opening with a multi-pawl locking mechanism and that also contain a design that can be implemented. The invention aims to remedy this.